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Insisting he did nothing wrong, former premier Dalton McGuinty says he does not know if his top aides wiped government computers linked to the Liberals’ gas-plants scandal.

McGuinty’s denial came the same day as NDP Leader Andrea Horwath appeared ready to press the delete button on support in the legislature for his successor, Premier Kathleen Wynne.

In his first public statement since it was revealed Ontario Provincial Police are investigating David Livingston, his former chief of staff, the ex-premier proclaimed his innocence on Friday.

“Yesterday, I learned of allegations regarding the treatment of records and computer files by the former premier’s office staff members,” McGuinty wrote.

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“As I have made clear in the past, including when I twice appeared before the legislative committee considering this matter, at no time was I made aware of nor did I direct the deletion of emails or documents,” he said.

“In my office, it was my honour to serve alongside a hard-working and dedicated staff who, from top to bottom, were committed to the highest standards of public service.”

McGuinty — whose personal mantra over a decade in government was “never too high, never too low, just relentless” — urged calmer heads to prevail.

“The allegations being made are the subject of an ongoing process. I have confidence in this process. I encourage all of us to respect this process by allowing it to come to a conclusion before we, ourselves, jump to any.”

But Horwath, mindful her New Democrats have propped up the minority Liberals for the past two years and risk being contaminated by the scandal, sounds like she’s already jumped to a conclusion.

“It is clear that a public inquiry into the cover-up must be called immediately,” she said in a letter to Wynne that read like an ultimatum.

“A special, independent prosecutor from outside the province (should) be appointed to work with the OPP’s anti-rackets squad and ensure there is no scope for any tampering by your government with probes of this scandal,” the NDP leader wrote.

While Wynne’s minority Liberals claim they are not afraid to fight a spring election despite the maelstrom swirling around a police probe of the $1.1-billion debacle, they may get a vote sooner than they had wanted.

New Democrats concede the raging controversy over McGuinty’s cancellation of gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga before the 2011 election makes it harder for them to keep the Liberals in office.

“When a motion of confidence comes forward we will be taking these events into consideration in a very substantial way,” NDP MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto Danforth) warned Friday.

Indeed, Horwath’s missive — which NDP insiders emphasize was in effect an “or else” letter to Wynne — appeared to indicate an election may be imminent.

“It is simply not good enough to say: ‘I knew nothing about this.’ For over two years, people have seen virtually every claim made by your party about this scandal proven to be false or misleading,” the NDP leader wrote.

“The cancellation costs were $870 million higher than you claimed they were . . . . You claimed you had no personal role in the cancellation decision, yet you signed the decision on the Oakville plant. People just can’t take your word for this anymore,” she continued.

“There are questions that must be answered. I first issued a call for an independent public inquiry last January. At that time, you insisted it would not be needed. The past year has proven you wrong.”

New Democratic insiders say the latest developments raise troubling questions about the rookie premier’s role in the gas plants debacle.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has been imploring Horwath to join with his party in toppling Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s budget, which is expected in May, triggering a June election.

Wynne succeeded McGuinty as premier on Feb. 11, 2013 and has yet to face voters in a general election.

She has tried to forestall pressure from the NDP and Conservatives in their calls for judicial inquiry, insisting steps have already been taken to keep the investigation into deleted emails and other politically sensitive documents at arm’s length.

Still, her 13-month-old administration has been rattled by news the OPP suspect Livingston, McGuinty’s last chief of staff, of breach of trust.

Police allege Livingston gave a deputy chief of staff’s boyfriend, who is a computer expert but not a member of the Ontario public service, unprecedented and “unrestricted” access to computers of 24 employees in the premier’s office before Wynne took over.

The claim has not been tested in court. Breach of trust carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Livingston has not commented, but his lawyer, Brian Gover, said his client “did nothing wrong and certainly did not break the law as alleged . . . . We are confident a full review will show that the allegations are baseless.”

A respected former investment banker and chief executive of Infrastructure Ontario, Livingston has maintained he was trying to clear computers as McGuinty staff left during the premier’s final weeks in office before Wynne took power.

Police allege the special password that would enable the holder to wipe hard drives clean was obtained by Livingston for his executive assistant, Wendy Wai, but passed on to Peter Faist, the boyfriend of deputy chief of staff Laura Miller.

In 111 pages of documents submitted to court by the OPP to get a search warrant for 24 hard drives, the investigating officer says that a special password was used to access Miller’s computer Feb. 6, 2013 and the computers of two junior staffers the next day.

The 24 hard drives were seized from a Mississauga data warehouse on Feb. 19 and are now being examined by the OPP’s technological services branch.

Wai, Faist, and Miller have not responded to requests for comment.

On Thursday, Wynne stressed that Livingston and Miller did not work for her and that she has never met Faist.

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